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Muslim Bashing Again Rears Ugly Head in Wake of Toulouse Massacre

It was as predictable as the sun rising in the Sahara in July. The “it” was yet another vicious and vile wave of Muslim bashing in the wake of the Toulouse Jewish school house massacre. The instant that the shooter, Mohamed Merah, was identified as a French citizen of Algerian descent, and purportedly had ties to Al Qaeda the proverbial curse of Ham fell on all Muslims. No matter that every major Muslim group in France, and that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and every other major Palestinian leader and official vehemently denounced the butchery, and even more emphatically made it clear that the crack pot act of a deranged gunman is as removed from the thinking and daily lives of Muslims as the Sun is from the moon. The bashing and trashing, name calling and vilification began with a vengeance.

But why should we be surprised. The pattern is always the same. There’s a shooting, a bombing, or an attack on innocents. The perpetrator is identified as a Muslim, and often even before any identification is made, much of the public is off to the races with the blame the Muslims and Islam for every atrocity imagined. The effect of this mindless stereotyping and typecasting of an entire group has been devastating. Anyone that can even be faintly typed as a Muslim either through alleged appearance or dress, is subject to be stopped, questioned, searched, and harassed on streets, in stores, at airports, and in schools.

The loud protests from Muslim groups about the hard religious and racial profiling they are subject to have largely fallen on deaf ears. The heinous massacre at the Jewish school and the killing of French soldiers by one lone nut case won’t change that. Muslim bashing will again rear and my suspicion is it will continue to rear its ugly head in France and everywhere else.